SWISS creates own FFP?
 

Having taken out a subscription to Bilan (and having received 10,000 miles for it in the latest offer!) I have found it reasonably interesting. In the latest edition (29.10 - 11.11) there is an interview with Lorenzo Stoll, the director of SWISS in Suisse Romande (French speaking Switzerland). One of the questions the interviewer poses is about how complicated the company's frequent flyer programme is and whether, in these days of over-simplified apps, this aspect was desperately behind the times. Stoll mentioned that SN Brussels Airlines recently developed their own programme but whether SWISS would launch their own programme he did not say, but added that SWISS has to improve in the mid-term. But he mentioned it himself in the interview, which makes me wonder if they are considering it.

Hey, we could even write in an suggest what they could call it: TravelClub! I am not sure I can reproduce the article here (which is in French), or that part of it, because of copyright reasons, but 20 minutes has a brief summary (which doesn't include the bit where he touched on the frequent flyer programmes):

http://www.20min.ch/ro/economie/news...riers-29000631

An LCC doesn't need an FFP at all.

So you could call it TravelCult or VacuumClub ... anything will do.

I fear that LX works just fine for LH the way it is. So there is no urgency in fixing then non-compatible websites, so booking system chaos. These things will be with us for quite some time :td: .

I doubt LX will have its own FFP in the near or far futures unless they disintegrated from the LH group of companies.

The Eurowings concept coming to SN/OS/LX in the next few years will have its own FFP like Germanwings has Boomerang club.

Simplifying the lives of frequent flyers evermore.

Hurray, exactly what LH group needs, after "status stars", Miles&More Selections, terrible 4U integration (weder Fisch noch Vogel), *A punishments when you fly the "wrong" *A airline (in the eyes of LH), further status de-evaluation, further decrease of miles given out etc. - too many things to mention.

And then they're complaining why people switch to alternatives.. Well, at least IAG understands how the business works in Europe.. LH group has lost it some years ago, that's for sure.

Loyalty is a two-side way, maybe someone should remember Spohr of that..

Even today, when you fly LX you have the choice of crediting the flight to some 20 FFPs of the happy *A family. People pick the loyalty programme that makes sense to them. I doubt an infrequent flyer finds any benefit in M&M. Boomerang has a simple system: get 10 points for every € spent, get a free flight for 10000 points.

Interesting- I don't find having 3 programs more simple than one. As for the happy *A family it also seems to be getting increasingly more complex.

Want an F award on Swiss? Not possible with all *A memberships.
Status miles? 75% less if you fly on TK.
Select Miles? Only on LH and specific partners metal.
HON Miles? Only on LH and specific partners metal in C or F.
Stars? Yes but only related to years of status M&M membership.
Award miles? Expire for some, but not for all.

Increasing complexity with terminology, with earnings, with requalification. And for what reason in the end?

That was the whole point of the question in this week's Bilan, that the whole thing is ridiculously complicated and user-unfriendly. Ordinary people (not major frequent flyers, but those who fly a few times a year at most, mainly for leisure) often speak of the time when it was possible to collect miles on their few trips and eventually have a free trip somewhere in Europe. I was the same myself when I started out with Qualiflyer and TravelClub. Now people say how rubbish and pointless the programme is with its high taxes and simply turn to easyJet and others. Transactional, the way Lufthansa want it. They just go for the cheapest fare there is. Does the LH group really imagine that anyone is going to choose to fly with them based on such a rubbish frequent flyer programme. Something has to change, and that was the gist of Stoll's answer.

It is not even possible with LX current FFP if you are not an Uber status holder like SEN or HON :confused:

And silly me, I always complain that the *A is falling apart after the de jure departure of UA and AC ... obviously the not-so-well-integrated partners also don't fit into the incapacitated IT of M&M.

The glorious StarAlliance feels like a glorious Japanese battleship around April 1945.
Oh please Oliver! I picked M&M when I was a dumb, pimply boy who had no friggin clue what would happen a fifth century down the road. An FFP is like an old bride, you may have a rationalisation why you are still with her but that never was the real thing.

Well, hum, I would like to think that I can still get something out of it, because there's not a huge lot of choice for trips between Switzerland and Germany, apart from Deutsche Bahn. Although, airberlin place their code on Etihad Regional flights now, which means that there are AB flight numbers between GVA and DUS in addition to between ZRH and DUS, which increases the options a bit.

I would definitely be interested in seeing what sort of FFP is created for the new Eurowings based at BSL. I would hope that it will better than germanwings' Boomerang Club, because that is about as bad as FlyBe's Rewards4All programme. I have zero motivation to use Boomerang Club seriously (but there are sometimes lucrative newspaper subscription offers).

Re Weero's comment above -

UA and AC are not leaving *. Maybe you are thinking of US Airways.

I do believe what Weero is referring to (although I am speculating here) are the increasing requirements of which percentage of flights must be on a particular carrier metal to requalify for elite status. If I understand correctly Air Canada now has a 50% AC metal requirement for their elite status levels which does to some degree undermine the concept of Star Alliance and is all the more puzzling given the ATI/JV metal neutral situations for many transatlantic flights. Star Alliance does have more asterisk, star, not included, exemption, 25%, then the other big alliances to be sure.

They have left de jure.

If you have US residency and are a UA MP member you cannot qualify for status on any non UA stock ticket anymore. You can collect worthless RDM but not qualifying dollars.

AC kept the crippling to 1/2 for the moment.